Book-holder.



1. P. STELLE.

BOOK HOLDER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 2, I915.

1 1 Patented May 23,1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET l- J. P. STELLE.

BOOK HOLDER. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 2. 1915.

mama May 23, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' Q W .c]: N 5 iv Z Z@ I JOHN P. STELL'E, OF SARANAC LAKE, NEW YORK.

BOOK-HOLDER.

Application filed March 2, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN P. SLELLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Saranac Lake, in the county of Franklin and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Book- Holders; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to book holders, and more particularly to a device of this character especially designed for use by pianists, organists, and others for reliably retaining a book in open position upon a rack or stand.

The invention has for its object to provide a book holder of novel and efficient con struction formed essentially of a single piece of spring wire and including a clamping frame and a pair of oppositely directed leaf engaging and retaining arms.

Vith this and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and formation of parts as will be hereinafter specifically described, claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 represents a front elevation of the book holder. Fig. 2 represents a side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 represents a perspective view of the book holder, and Fig. 4 represents a top plan view of the improved book holder positioned upon a book.

Referring to the drawing in detail, wherein similar reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 5 designates the curved web portion of a substantially U-shaped member including parallel side arms 6 con stituting the rear clamping or attaching element of the holder. The upper portions of the arms 6 are directed forwardly in parallel relation, as indicated at 7, and at right angles to the arms 6. The forward extremities of the members 7 connect with the depending portions 8 of the wire, which latter is bent angularly, as indicated at 9, to provide oppositely directed horizontally disposed retaining arms, designated generally by the numeral 10. The outer extremities of the members 9 are looped, as indi-' catcd at 11, and the adjacent portions of the wire are extended inwardly below the members 9 and engage over and behlnd the inner Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 23, 1916.

Serial No. 11,487.

extremities of the members 9. The free ends of the wire are twisted, as indicated at 12, and disposed betweenthe clamping arms 6 and directed downwardly and inwardly toward the latter, as illustrated in Fig. 2, to provide a clamping element adapted to cooperate with the arms 6 to clamp the holder in position upon a book. The lower eX- tremities 13 of the twisted portions 12 of the wire are curved downwardly and outwardly for engagement with the central portion of a book. The forwardly directed portions or spacing elements 7 of the holder are connected by a member 1 1 having the central portion 15 looped to provide a handle, whereby the holder may be conveniently manipulated.

The entire holder, exclusive of the member 14 is formed from a single piece of spring wire, and as indicated in Fig. 1, the retaining arms 9 and the forward clamping member 12 are directed rearwardly so as to 111811115 positive clamping or gripping actlon of these parts upon books of various sizes.

In use, the book (not shown) is opened to the desired place and is slipped between the clamping members 6 and 12 until the upper edge of the book engages the forwardly directed members 7 The holder is preferably so positioned that the lower curved extremity 13 of the forward clamping element 12 engages between the pages while the parallel arms 6 engage upon opposite sides of the backing or connecting strip between the sides of the book. In this position, the for ward and rear clamping members 12 and 6, respectively, firmly retain the holder in position upon the book while the oppositely directed retaining arms 9 engage and retain the pages of the book in open position.

What I claim is:

1. A book holder including a rear clamping member, a pair of oppositely directed laterally projecting retaining arms in front of said rear member and connected thereto, and a front clamping member depending from said arms directly in front of the rear clamping member.

2. A book holder including front and rear clamping members having free lower ends, the free lower end of the front clamping member being directed inwardly toward the free lower end of the rear clamping member, and a pair of rearwardly directed retaining arms projecting laterally of the upper extremity of the front clamping memher and connected with the upper extremity adapted to engage the binding of a book,

a pair of rearwardly directed leaf-engaging arms projecting laterally of the upper ex JOHN P. STELLE. Witnesses:

C. C. LA PAN, GEO. E. BURRELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for live cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. G. 

